58 Million

In the 1973 landmark ruling of the case of Roe v Wade, it allowed taking the life of an unborn child acceptable and permissible under the law simply because the woman had the ultimate right to make that choice. In this discussion and argument by those judges, was the future ever considered before rendering that ruling? The Supreme Court ruled 7–2 that a right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that this right must be balanced against the state's interests in regulating abortions: protecting women's health and protecting the potentiality of human life. While the 14th Amendment was used as means to protect the rights of citizens of the United States based on “no person could be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law” did anyone ever consider the life of the unborn child or argue on their behalf? Was the future of the United States of America ever weighed in the balances when considering the long-term impact this decision might play on the identity of who we are as a nation?

Had these judges been able to look into the crystal ball of the future, here is what it would have revealed. Since these seven judges ruled in favor of legalizing abortion, there have been an estimated 58 million unborn babies aborted in the womb. To put that number in some sort of perspective, we have effectively wiped out the populations of the state of Alabama twice, along with the states of Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. The populations of all these states combined still come up a few hundred thousand short of the total number of abortions that have been performed over the past 44 years. Not only has the legalization of abortion taken out a whole generation, it has taken away the lives of the people that could have profoundly impacted the world we live in. Those unborn babies could have grown up to be the scientists that created the cure for cancer, become brilliant engineers, changed and established laws, run for office, become gifted teachers and law enforcement officers just to name a few. The possibilities are endless and we will never know the full impact that their lives could have made.

With the loss of a large segment of an entire generation of citizens in this nation, the work force and potential future parents suffered greatly. Undocumented immigrants and citizens from other cultures are now occupying these empty places in America, which in effect is causing us to become more of a melting pot of ideas, that we are now losing our own identity in the process.

A 7-2 vote by the Supreme Court forever changed America, the lives of the unborn, and the future of this nation.

The views of this editorial may not express the views of The Alabama Gazette.